Christmas 2009

I should have known what this meant...


We visited Dallas for the first time very shortly after this. I had no idea that we were going to be moving in less than a year.

Halloween!! a little late

Take a guess at what we were

I'm going to Rwanda!

In June I attended an meeting to learn some details about an upcoming trip to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. I wasn't sure if this was something I truly wanted to be apart of, or could be. The plan is to do 15 open heart surgeries in 18 days for people who suffer from Rheumatic Heart Disease. 2 surgeons, 1 surgical physician assistant, 3 cardiologists, 1 echo tech, 1 bypass pump tech, 5 OR nurses, 9 ICU nurses, 9 Step down nurses and a few laymen to round out our 45 member team. I soon realized that I wanted to be apart of this amazing opportunity. I was chosen to be apart of the 9 member step down team. Another nurse and I are the youngest to be traveling. We leave on the 5th of February, arrive the 7th, 1st surgery is on the 8th and then we leave on the 23rd. What a month! We needed to raise $2,500 for our own personal airfare (which I have done with the generous support of family and friends) and be willing to give up our vacation time as well.

Well its coming down to the last 90 days before our trip and we are trying to tie up all the loose ends. The group needs about $100,000 to be able to afford the supplies and ship everything to Africa. We are apply for grants and also holding tons of benefits.

The website is www.ujamamedicalconnections.com if you want more information.

Our trip is so important because there is a list of over 500 people who desperately need life saving surgery. That doesn't include everyone else who just needs a checkup or preventative care. During the 1994 genocide, 75% of the medical community was killed. For the 10 million in the country, there are 225 doctors and of those 225, 2 are cardiologists.... not even surgeons. Our group is being supported by other groups from Boston, Australia and another team from either Israel or India. They have been before and the combination of everyone puts a trained surgeon in the country at least every 4 months. Hopefully we can educate both the doctors and the nurses while we are they so we can start to make this country self sufficient once again.

More weddings?!!

In August I fly down to Colorado Springs to see my friend Shelby get marred to a friend from Whitworth. It was a long weekend full of beautiful site and amazing friends. I've never been to Colorado, so that was also a fun experience.


Obviously at the Garden of the Gods. Holy cow! What an amazing place.

My travel partners, Lindsay and Jessica

One of the beautiful rock formations.

Shelby and Nolan!

Such a gorgeous environment. Kudos the bride for planning the PERFECT wedding.

Shelby was one of the most beautiful brides I have ever seen.

The lucky man.

This late summer we went to a family friend's wedding. Heather Schneidmiller married Trevor Osbourne. It was a gorgeous wedding and the reception was held at her parents house. It's so fun to see how much things can change, but the people always stay the same.

This October, I also was able to see my good friend and old roomate from Whitworth get married. Congrats Caitlin and Aaron!

In front of the Fremont Troll.

My pseudo wedding date. Sean was also at a wedding back in Spokane on the same weekend, so I went with a friend from Whitworth.

Such a beautiful wedding. It was so good to see tons of friends that I haven't seen since school.

That is it for our weddings this fall. We have another at the end of December and then no more until next July. I'm wedding'ed out!

Oh Yeah, we had a 1 year anniversary!

On July 25th, 2008, Sean and Andrea changed their lives and said "I do." Well, we are happy to have had such a nice 1st year of marriage. It was for the most part a pretty uneventful year. I finished school, started a job, Sean has kept his job and we don't have kids.... Sounds pretty good. Here are some highlights from our trip to Leavenworth.



Played a little mini golf on a real green.

Fed the goats who eat the hillside

In front of the Alpine-like hills.

Went for a hike near icicle creek. So beautiful

Hot and sweaty

Cutting the cake, 1 year later. Not too bad, kinda tasted like freezer though

Being that the first anniversary is paper, Sean bought a paper bouquet of my wedding flowers. I was completely shocked! The company's name is Anemone and they make the most amazing stuff. I just got a him a book... I think he won this year :)

In the last couple of months.....

Boy, talk about a bad blogger... May was the last time that I filled anyone in on our life? Good thing not much has happened. Hmmm..... well

We finished up the summer by taking occasional trips out to Pend Oreille River. Sean's family has had this small cabin in their family for years, so it is a fond place for him. Can you believe it that in all of our years together this was the first time I was introduced to the cabin? Sean driving the boat.

Beautiful Pend Oreille River

We also had a couple of weddings this summer to attend.

Brandon and Kristen Herron

Got to catch up with some great friends. Erica came from Seattle and Ginger came from Grandview. Ginger was a couple months from having little baby Bronson!

At Cameron and Ashley's Wedding

The beautiful bride and groom.

Dayne and Katie Strom's wedding on my birthday.

Because we went to a wedding on the day of my birthday and the day after, we went to Silverwood earlier that week! Hooray! I'm 23.

So we had quite the summer just keeping up with the weddings. And that wasn't all of them for the rest of the year. (That'll be in the next entry).

My job is safe.... for now...

We had a meeting at work yesterday about new staffing policies. I am not sure if any of you are aware... but Sacred Heart is 9 million dollars in the hole, with no help from the state which is apparently like 9 billion dollars in the hole. I can't remember the specifics. Anyways, there is all this speculation about where they are going to make cuts. The hospital already cut like 20 management positions and they are still looking for more ways to cut costs. Thankfully...... our floor is safe. They aren't planning on cutting any nursing or nursing aid positions. The only down side is that other floors are cutting back based on seniority. So when someone on another floor is "displaced," they can take an open position on another floor. I could hypothetically lose my job if someone who has more than 4 months seniority wants to work on 6N. Those chances are pretty slim, but it still doesn't sound good. They will do another round of cuts in July if they still aren't making budget.

Now for some random thoughts on my job that I probably have already said before. It's a difficult experience to have to come to the hospital. Think about it, now one really chooses to be at the hospital. Thank goodness you are there because it's a place of healing, but no one wants to be sick, but cut open, or have something wrong with them. We put you in a piece of cloth that only covers the half of you and then ask you to be naked underneath it. Every eight hours you have a new person asking to look at your bare chest and backside and hoping that you are okay with it. So by far, the patient has it pretty bad. So, I try to make your stay as comfortable and enjoyable as it can be. But remember, nurses tend to have 3-4 other patients, plus doctors to deal with and a nurse's aides to keep track of. I love my job, I just think that I get caught up in what I am doing and forget what the patient is going through. It's a tough place to be in. I want to be catering to my patients, but I have a MILLION other things that I have to be doing. If nursing was only thing that I had to worry about, then my day would be simple.
On top of being a nurse, I am a...
Secretary (scanning orders, answering phones, running errands),
Detective (finding out what meds the patient is taking, calling doctors to clarify orders, finding lab results, putting the pieces of the patient's condition together to help them),
Counselor (listening to their problems and concerns),
Educator (helping people understand their condition, meds), and
Social worker (how are they getting home, who's taking care of them, are they going to be safe at home).

I am sure that I could be leaving out some other aspect of my job. Honestly, I love it. It combines so many aspects of my personality. I love helping people... body, mind and soul. I am so lucky to have a job that allows me to do what I love. I might complain, but take it lightly. Every nurse needs a chance to vent. :) I think that this blog is going to become a little mix of our life as newlyweds and a little bit of humor and ponderings from work.